The Red Mirage of the Whirlpool
by Alendi
Summary: What if Kushina had a cousin who managed to escape the destruction of their village. How would history change if he became a ninja of the Leaf? A story about Uzumaki Nanashi - the Red Mirage of the Whirlpool
1. The Massacre of the Whirlpool

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

I have been reading Naruto fanfics for a while and I can honestly say that I have fallen in love with some of them. This world has so much potential.

The idea for this fanfic has been growing in me for a while, and at last I did it. I really like to read stories that take place in the generation of Naruto's parents. Honestly I think that this period of time is much more interesting than the fourth ninja war (maybe except for Akatsuki, this organization is really cool). Unfortunately most of these stories are about Naruto travelling in time, what I find really lame (he knows what will happen and is mostly incredibly overpowered). So I got the idea to write a fanfic with OC main character. I hope I will manage not to screw him up with some ridiculous ideas, and I will probably ask for some help a few times if I hesitate how to proceed. I will write most techniques in English, however some will stay Japanese(like rasengan, chidori, or shunshin). Lastly, I am not native English speaker, so expect some mistakes here and there (I hope there will not be many of them).

This story is about Nanashi Uzumaki (I like this name very much since I watched the movie Sword of the Stranger), who is Kushina's cousin. He will be the same age as Kushina and Minato. While I want him to be like our favorite Uzumaki in some ways, I don't want him to be a copy or even so much similar. Feel free to add some insights, and to correct my grammar.

So, lets start.

"…" – talking

'…' – thinking

'…' – a technique (not yelled out loud, I always thought it was bullshit for ninja to yell the names of their techniques)

'…' – **summon/bijuu thinking**

"…" – **summon/bijuu talking**

* * *

Fear, anger and sadness. These were emotions that Nanashi could feel as he run away with tears in his eyes from burning houses and remnants of the place he has been calling home. Village hidden in the whirlpools no longer existed, destroyed in the attack of 3 different villages.

Even now he could feel as his clan, his family, was eradicated. He could feel his uncle, the uzukage, dying a few hundred metres behind him. He could feel every single person around him and he knew what happened when they began vanishing from his senses one by one. Such was his fate, his gift of sensing that was causing him so much pain at the moment. His soul cried to go and rescue them…but he knew that he could not change anything. He had to escape or his grandmother's and uncle's sacrifices would be in vain and he would die. They ordered him to live.

He clenched his hands tighter on the few items that were given to him and ran as fast as he could to further the distance between him and the pursuers that were temporarily occupied with a few ninjas of the Uzumaki clan. He turned around one last time to look at his fallen homeland, before he ran into the wilds. He knew, that it was gone, but one day he would return.

* * *

He was trapped. He knew that he could not escape 2 people who were chasing him. The whole port was burned down. There was no escape from the island. He felt the panic as he sensed the enemies drawing near. There was no other way. He had to fight.

He came slowly to the ocean, unsealed a ninja-to and turned to face the ninjas who just emerged from the woods.

* * *

Kiyoshi and Kyoko were not amused. They have been tracking some stupid kid for a whole day. They were sure to become a laughingstock of their village if they failed and it seemed that the kid had some way of avoiding them. They were becoming very annoyed although they knew that there was no way of leaving the island. Red haired boy would not be able to sneak into one of their ships.

Finally, after so many hours of this pursuit, the pair of chuunins saw their target as they came out of the forest. The boy, no older than 9 stood by the ocean with a sword in his hand. They did not even try to hide themselves, confident in their skill to capture one kid.

When the boy started to make many handsigns in quick succession they began to feel something they should not have been feeling from facing a little boy. Fear.

'Impossible, this kid…'

'Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave'

A monstrous amount of water rose from the ocean and rushed towards the stunned duo. They did not even have time to defend themselves as the mass of water hit them head on and swept them away.

'Something is not right'

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Grandma, why don't you use ninjutsu?" asked 5 year old Nanashi_

"_Ninjutsu is an art for idiots and showoffs like my brothers. It consumes much chakra and using it is like advertising "I am here, come for me"" answered the old woman with green eyes and black hair dressed in a kimono. "Genjutsu is much more subtle and suited for a ninja. It does not make any noise, stupid flashes and it takes a lot less chakra to use. It is the best for controlling the flow of battle and even the simplest can create a distraction you need to defeat your opponent."_

_The boy almost started to shine as he heard this explanation._

"_Can you teach me? I will become the best, I will be even better than you grandma" stated the boy with confidence in his voice._

_That was the day in which Senju Toka found her only apprentice._

_Flashback end_

'Something is not right, I should have crushed into the trees. It must be genjutsu' thought Kiyoshi as he tried his best to fight against spinning and drowning. He managed to create a handsing.

"Kai" when he released chakra from his body he fell on his knees as effects of the genjutsu disappeared. He looked around furiously.

'where is the-' he did not finish even finish his thought as a sword came through his heart. The last thing he ever saw was a body of his partner lying on a sand sand in a pool of blood and the green eyes of a 10 year old who managed to kill 2 adult ninjas.

* * *

He felt sick. He just killed people. Their lifeless bodies lied beneath his feet in their own blood. He did it. He killed.

He almost vomited, but deep inside he was aware that he had no choice. He had to kill in order to survive.

Suddenly he sensed another people getting closer in each moment, and he still had no way of escaping. Unless…

* * *

_Flashback_

"_That is so cool! Teach me that" 2 children yelled in a unison as they saw the uzukage summoning a gigantic wolf._

"_I was first Octopus" stated the redhaired boy to the girl his age._

"_Don't call me octopus!" yelled the girl in return "and you are too lame to have such skill. Isn't that right dad?"_

_The uzukage only chuckled, clearly amused at their bickering._

"_**Kazuma, why the did you summon me here?**__" the wolf asked._

"_It talks!" the children yelled once again._

"_Umm, I just wanted to show them something cool and summoning was my best idea" Kazuma answered._

_The gigantic creature eyed children curiously_

"_**I am not some trophy you can use to impress children," **__The wolf bared its fangs as if he was smiling, clearly amused at the sight of gawking children, "__**So, these are your puppies."**_

"_Yeah, this is my daughter, Kushi-chan and my nephew Nanashi- kun" _

"_**Whatever. You showed off already, so I will be going. And don't summon me unless it is important,"**__ saying this the wolf disappeared without a sign._

"_It…was so awesome! When will we I able to do this?" the girl cried still at the awe._

"_You will never Octopus. I am sure you get something lame, like an octopus." the boy said. _

_A steam began coming out of Kushina as she was trying to contain her anger._

"_Don't call me octopus, shorty!"_

_They stopped the quarrel as they heard a loud laughter, coming from the uzukage._

"_Now, now, eventually both of you will learn how to summon. Remember that the summons are not your servants. They are partners. They help us and in return we help them," he explained _

"_Uncle, how can we make a contract with animals?"_

"_There are 2 ways. You must either sign an existing contract, or you can use summoning technique without one. This will transport you to the world of summons to the creatures you are best attuned to."_

"_So why so few people have summoning contracts? It seems easy."_

"_Seems is a keyword here. In order to perform summoning you must have a lot of chakra. Additionally you must pass a test given to you by the creatures. It can be very dangerous. Moreover there is a possibility that they will simply not like you and outright kill you," Kazuma said with a serious tone, "so promise me that you will not try this unless you are absolutely sure that you can are strong enough."_

"_We promise" they agreed._

_Flashback end_

'I am sorry sorry uncle. I have to break the promise. But don't worry, I wil make sure to survive and to take care of the Octopus. She is too hotheaded to trust her with her own life,' Nanashi thought while going through handsings.

'Summoning!' He disappeared just in time to see several ninjas.

"The raikage will not like this."

* * *

'I did it,' He knew that he succeeded as soon as he saw completely different scenery. He looked around.

'So incredible. I have never seen anything like that. It is so much better to see it normally than in genjutsu. I can barely see the sky'

He was in the dark forest in the mountains. Gigantic trees were towering above him, like the ones his grandmother used to show him

'I wonder, what kind of creatures live here.'

He stressed his sensing to the fullest and he felt…nothing special. Many animals without any significant level of chakra, maybe a bit more than normally in the air…but nothing else.

'It is weird, I am sure I used the technique correctly, I was reverse summoned somewhere, so why? Why can't I feel anything?'

Suddenly he felt a big source of chakra just next to him. It was weird, as if it was almost completely erased, what made it very hard to detect. He has never felt anything like that, but he remembered something.

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Hey, grandma, can we go see the uncle? I want to practice my kenjutsu." 6 year old Nanashi asked._

"_And why can't you just practice it with me?"_

"_Uncle is like, the best in the whole village, and Kushi is with him. You said it yourself that I should have a sparring partner"_

"_You can go search for them, but I have no idea where they went,_" _Toka said a bit irritated that she had to share her grandson. She wanted to train him all by herself. He was meant to be the best of the best so she could rub it in Hashirama's and Tobirama's faces when they meet in the afterlife. Yes, they would have to praise her and apologize for each moment that they made fun of her style._

"_They are by the ocean at the cliffs," he claimed with certainty._

"_And how do you know that, you were not there when they left."_

"_I just can…I don't know, somehow sense them there," this made Toka widen her eyes in surprise._

'_This mean that Nanashi can sense chakra from half a mile. It is ridiculous, even Tobirama could not cover such distance until he was 20.'_

"_Tell me, can you sense something else just chakra signature?"_

"_I don't understand. I just know when people are around me and I know where they are."_

"_I mean…" She made a handsign "Can you feel something different in me now?"_

"_Yeah, you are now more similar to other people in the village. What did you do?"_

"_I molded some water chakra. It seems that you can sense chakra natures. It is truly amazing gift." Hearing these words, the boy started to jump around and spin._

"_So it means, that I will be the best?" Toka started to laugh out loud._

"_With enough training. Just remember that you will meet people who will be able to avoid your sensing ability so don't get overconfident. There are people like the second tsuchikage Mu who can completely erase their presence. There are also people like my brother Hashirama who can use chakra that is present in the nature. It makes sensing much, much harder."_

_Flashback end_

"**Rrgh" **he hearda low, terrifying growl just behind him. He felt fear, not like the one he felt during a massacre of his village. He felt fear which froze his body. He could not move.

'What is going on? I can't move and something is just beside me. Move! Move!' he thought furiously trying to break the paralysis which affected him, 'I can't move. Why? Wait, my chakra! This growl! It must be genjutsu!' he realized. He quickly bit his tongue breaking the technique and rolled over to the side, just in time to avoid getting hit by some black creature.

'It was a cat, a gigantic cat!' he realized, a bit relieved. He was internally worried that he may be attuned to some lame creature, but felines were cool. Now, his only problem laid in staying alive. Once again he could not sense nor see anything.

'I won't be able to evade the cat in the forest. I would have probably died if it had just attacked me without paralyzing. If I don't detect it, then I will die.' He sat on the ground and closed his eyes, focusing his sensory abilities in a small radius around him, before performing a few handseals.

He waited. He did not know how long, seconds were quickly turning into minutes and with every minute he was getting more tense. Suddenly he felt something quickly approaching his back and he finished the simple technique.

'Lightning Style: Blinding Flash'

Even through his closed eyes he could see the bright light that suddenly appeared . There was no way that anything close to him was not blinded. He opened his eyes and turned around to see a big, black feline creature covering its eyes with paws. Once again he went through a few handseals before touching big cat's head.

'Genjutsu: Sleep'

The cat stopped moving and fell into sleep.

"**So, it seems that you are not a prey" **a deep voice said and much bigger creature appeared, **"Who are you, human, how did you enter our home?" **It was gigantic, 3-4 meters high some kind of a cat. It was yellow with black dots all over its body. Its body was long, about 6 meters and the long tail was gracefully flinging through the air.

"My name is Uzumaki Nanashi. I was running from enemies and I performed summoning technique without having a contract." Replied Nanashi a bit wary of the creature.

"**I see, so it means that you would like to become our summoner, just like so many others before you," **the creature yielded a weird, rattling sound.

'It is laughing,' Nanashi realized, "What happened to them?"

"**None has ever succeeded. Some were killed during the first test," **the cat pointed its head at the sleeping black cub, **"Some harmed the examiner. Their punishment was death. Some failed the second test. And some were simply not acceptable. They are all laying in the Valley of Bones."**

"You mentioned the second test"

"**I have, indeed. Another predator entered our land and we don't want to share the prey. Your task is to eliminate him. If you do so, we will consider becoming your allies. The intruder is by the river east from here. You have one day."** So his mission was an assassination. Once again he will have to take the life. There was no other choice. **"Why are you still here, human?"**

"What kind of animal are you?"

"**We are the panthers. Now, be gone. You have the task to do."**

* * *

The intruder was a gigantic brown bear.

'How the hell am I supposed to take care of it? It must weigh at least a few tons.' He thought while furiously trying to come up with a plan. He made a single handsign.

'Shadow clones!' He thought as 3 clones came to life, mentally thanking his great uncle for creating such incredible technique.

"Search the whole surroundings, we have still much time." He ordered them. He knew that the panthers were observing him. He could not fail.

Finally, finally he knew what to do. It has already been getting dark, but he managed to make a plan. He could not kill the bear by himself that much was certain. However he was not powerless. The plan was very simple, but he was rather sure that it will be enough.

He grasped a kunai with an explosive tag and threw it at the great creature.

BOOM! An explosive tag detonated. The bear noticed him and started to chase him in rage. Now began the hard part. The animal was much faster than he was, and using a shunshin was tricky in the forest. His control could not falter even for a moment or he was a dead meat. He also must have remained in bear's field of vision or it could stop chasing him.

Finally after a few minutes of a wild chase he arrived at his destination, with the bear almost at his back. He quickly casted genjutsu over it. His control would not be damaged by anything at this point.

"**Rrrgghaa!"** The bear roared enraged at the human who dared to harm him, and charged. Straight into the dark cave.

Nanashi looked sad for a moment, but nonetheless there was no other way. He detonated the explosive tags which were planted all over the place, destroying everything inside and causing the ceiling to collapse. He felt bear's signature disappearing and he knew what it meant.

"**So you have succeeded," **said the great panther from before as he came into view, **"The hunt was well prepared and executed. We decided that we will let you sign the scroll. You will become the Panther."**

Suddenly a lot of chakra signatures seemingly materialized out of thin air all around him and Nanashi saw a great variety of creatures. Smaller, bigger, differently colored, but without a doubt every single one of them was a panther.

"**My name is Raime, the leader of the Panther clan" **stated the cat as before producing a scroll. **"Sign this in blood and you will become the first one to bond with us."**

* * *

It has been a month since Nanashi came to the realm of summons and he could honestly say that he really liked the panthers. He has been learning their way of hunting. They believed stealth to be the most important ability, so for the whole time he was learning from Yoru – the smaller cat which attacked him after coming to the forest. While his grief over the loss of his family was still present, it slowly began to fade. He knew that he must let it go, or dark emotions may consume him. But he was certain that he would never forget about his home. Even if he was going to become a ninja of another village.

"**So, Nanashi. Where do you want to go?" **Raime asked.

"Konoha, I want to go to the village hidden in the leafs."

"**Very well, I will take you there"**

* * *

"**The barrier around Konoha will detect me as soon as I cross its borders so I will leave you here. If you go down this road you will surely meet some people from the village."**

"Thanks Raime. I know it will take a while before I have enough chakra to summon you, so well…thanks for everything and stay safe."

"**You too kid. Become strong, you represent us as our summoner." **He disappeared to his home with a puff of smoke.

* * *

After some time he finally sensed 4 people approaching. 1 much stronger than the other 3.

'Probably a genin team. Grandma told me that they operate in such squads.'

"Hey, you! Who are you? Why are you heading to our village?" The team finally showed up and the blond girl belonging to it immediately started to shout. They were all maybe 2 or 3 years older than him.

"My name is Uzumaki Nanashi. I am from the Whirlpool," Nanashi replied.

"You are lying! Everyone knows that the Whirlpool was destroyed without any survivor." The girl was clearly hotheaded.

"You don't have to remind me," Nanashi stated quietly in a cold tone. He did not want to be reminded of his fallen family.

"So-" she was interrupted by the Jonin. "Aika, be silent."

"I am jonin of Konoha, Katou Shinji. This is my team, Yamanaka Aika, Aburame Shiki and Hyuuga Hisato," he introduced them, "Am I right to assume that you are heading to Konoha, Uzumaki-san?"

"Yes, you are," The boy stated.

"We will escort you to the village. I am sure that Hokage-sama would like to speak to you," the jonin offered.

"Thank you, Katou-san."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen has certainly not been having a good day. War erupted not long ago and he had so much work that it was not even funny.

'Why the hell did I take this job. I could have let someone like Danzo rot in this office.'

He did not even have a time to use his crystal ball in any creative way. He was truly happy when the doors to his office opened and one of his genin teams entered with 1 additional person. A short boy not older than 10, dressed in worn clothes. Dark green blouse with a hood, and black pants. Oval face and green eyes with a look that the Hokage has seen far too many times lately.

"Hokage-sama, on our way back from the mission we met this boy. His na-"

"I am Uzumaki Nanashi. I am a survivor from the Whirlpool," he interrupted. He wanted to be the one to introduce himself.

That was a suprise.

'I did not think that anyone managed to escape. Kiri, Iwa and Kumo were very thorough.'

"I see. Leave us please, I would like to speak with Uzumaki-san."

After the team left, Nanashi was alone with the Hokage and his ANBU guards.

"As you propably already know, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third hokage of Konoha. I would like to offer you my condolence for what has happened to your clan. I have sent ANBU to Uzu, but they only found burned remains of the village. We have not met any other survivor, so I am afraid that only people who were not on the island can be still alive. That brings my question to you. How did you escape?"

"I used summoning technique without a contract."

'Very creative and truly ingenious way…if he speaks the truth.' Thought the Hokage. It would not be beyond other village to send a child to pose as an Uzumaki.

"And, do you have any proof, about your identity?"

"My cousin Kushina is a resident of this village. She can confirm my identity."

"Bring Kushina here. She is probably in the Uzumaki clan compound," Sarutobi ordered one of the ANBU who immediately left. "So, Nanashi-kun, tell me do you want to become a ninja?" The boy opened up a bit.

"Yes, I want. I have been training my whole life," this made the hokage smile.

"I see, you will attend the academy with your peers. So, do you also want to become the hokage, like Kushina?"

"No way, this position is lame. My grandma said that her "moron of a brother" wanted to take this position and when did, he created the shadow clone technique to take care of his job"

Sarutobi's eyes widened.

'I am such a moron. It was so simple. Shadow clones. How did I not think of it myself?'

"Was your grandmother perhaps-"

"She was Senju Toka"

'Toka-sama! I have only seen her once. Sensei said a few times that she was the greatest genjutsu master that he has ever seen. I must inform Tsunade about this.'

He was ripped out of his thoughts as the doors opened and Uzumaki Kushina went in.

"Old man, what do you want?"

Yes, Kushina was such a lovely girl. She definitely made the village much more interesting since she had arrived from the Whirlpool just a year ago. Some of her classmates were still scared of her, after a beating she gave them. Calling her names appeared not very safe. It was such a shame that she has been so very gloomy for the last month. Though he could not blame her.

"Kushina-chan, I have some great news to you-"

"Do you want to give me this hat?" sometimes she was predictable, more than a month ago it would surely amuse him very much, but nowadays it did not have a tone that it used to have. Maybe she will cheer up once again.

"Look to your right" Kushina turned her head and stood there gawking, with tears in her eyes.

"Octopus, don't be such a crybaby. Uncle would not want to see you like-" He was cut short as Kushina hugged him tightly, still crying.

"Shut up, I thought that I lost everyone." She said through her tears. "I thought that you died there with father and the whole clan."

They stood there embracing each other for a while before breaking up.

* * *

AN

So, this is it. I hope you liked it. I certainly had fun writing this. I would like to explain a few things that may be confusing.

Nanashi calling Kushina "octopus" – I think this is easy to make out, but it will be explained.

Nanashi's fighting style – I would like him to be a bit like Itachi without the sharingan. This guy was a true badass. Genjutsu + kenjutsu, but he will also learn ninjutsu (he will just not spam it all the time).

I personally find it weird that it was Iwa, Kiri and Kumo who invaded the Whirlpool. I checked it out and Iwa is completely on the different side of the continent. In order to move their forces to Uzu, they would have to pass konoha, go really all the way around, or Kumo would have to let them pass through the land of lightning (I find it not very possible). But nonetheless, getting destroyed by 3 united armies sounds better than 2, so I left it like that.

While I may, from time to time, borrow a name from other series, this fanfic will be strictly Naruto one. No zanpaktous, haki, the force or some other stuff. Only chakra.

Concerning very important piece of every fanfic – pairings. I want Nanashi and Kushina to be like siblings so don't expect them to end up together. I am leaning towards Mikoto.

So, if you have any ideas, please share. I will make sure to read them (but I don't promise I will use them.)

If you have questions, ask. I will answer them, unless it would reveal too much of a plot.

Yours faithfully

Alendi.


	2. New home

„Kushina, what happened?" black haired girl asked. Kushina was very dejected since she got the news about the destruction of the Whirlpool, but this day she smiled and looked much livelier.

"What do you mean, Mikoto?" Kushina asked back with a smile.

"You just seem much happier than you were recently."

"You will see, Mikoto."

Their conversation was interrupted as the teacher entered the classroom. Following him was the red haired boy their age.

"Class, we have a new student from now on," The teacher announced, before turning to the boy "Introduce yourself."

"My name is Uzumaki Nanashi. Please, take a good care of me," he said with a smile

"Kushina, is he really your family? He doesn't act like you." Mikoto was very curious about him. She had heard many times about Kushina's cousin, and she imagined him to be a male version of her friend.

"What do you mea-!?" Kushina started to yell, but she was interrupted by the other student.

"Another red haired baboon," Fugaku Uchiha said quietly. He was one of the people who had insulted Kushina and had got a black eye for this.

"Fugaku, you shouldn't insult your fellow classmates" Minato Namikaze said. The blond boy always tried to solve any problem by himself.

"Say that again, bastard!" Kushina immediately yelled, however unexpectedly, she was not the loudest person.

"Don't call me fat!" Choza Akimichi shouted for some reason, and hit Fugaku straight in the face. Black haired boy clearly did not expect to get hit and dropped off his chair

"What are you doing, Akimichi!?" he cried after standing back from the floor. Before he could have done anything, he screamed once again as Kuromaru – Tsume Inuzuka's dog bit him in the leg.

'What is happening?' Mikoto wondered before looking once again at smiling Nanashi, 'He must have done something. It started when Fugaku insulated Kushina and him.'

"Inuzuka! Take this dog off me," Fugaku was shouting, while most of the class was laughing. Kuromaru was still biting him.

"SHUT UP!" the teacher quickly silenced the class. Even Kuromaru returned to Tsume, "Nanashi, sit next to Kushina."

* * *

"Hahaha, did you guys see it?" Jiraiya laughed as he, Tsunade, Orochimaru and Sarutobi watched everything in the crystal ball.

"Yes, Jiraiya we do have eyes," Orochimaru replied, but even he was amused at the sight of Fugaku Uchiha bitten in the leg.

"Was it genjutsu?" hokage wondered.

"Yes, it was. Firstly the Akimichi and then the dog," Tsunade answered

Jiraiya was looking at the crystal ball in a reverie.

"Sensei, can you watch the whole village with this crystal ball?" he asked.

"Yes, except for the Uzumaki and Senju compounds. Mito-sama didn't like the idea of being spied." Jiraiya was clearly in awe.

"Can I borrow it sometimes?"

"Jiraiya, if you even think of using this ball to peek, I will kill you." Tsunade did not like the idea, "Sensei, tell him that you would never let him do it,"

"Eeeh…" Sarutobi blushed a bit, and Tsunade glanced at him murderously.

"Look, they are going to spar," Orochimaru rescued the remaining males in the room.

* * *

Nanashi was looking with great interest at his classmates' taijutsu spars. To say the least he was not very impressed. It seemed that the girls were mostly pathetic fangirls without any significant skills. Only Kushina, her friend Mikoto, the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga girl were able to fight.

'Only people from clans,' Nanashi thought after watching the fight between the Hyuuga brothers. 'And the blonde guy from before.'

"Fugaku and Nanashi, come forth," the instructor announced the next fight.

* * *

"I bet 10 thousand ryo on the Uzumaki," Jiraiya said as he watched Fugaku and Nanashi starting to fight.

"I accept," Orochimaru replied, "It is a sucker's bet. Uchiha has the sharingan, he will win."

"The Uzumaki killed 2 chuunins from the Cloud, it is impossible for him to lose against some snot nosed brat, sharingan or not. Tsunade, tell him that I'm right"

"The kid will probably lose," the blonde answered, "He told me that he usually fights with a sword. Although his taijutsu is quite good, he lost in a spar with Nawaki in the morning," she mentioned her little brother who had recently became a genin.

"Whatever, I'm sure that 10 thousand ryo will be mine," saying this, Jiraiya returned to watching the crystal ball

* * *

'He is good, and the sharingan gives him an advantage' Nanashi thought as he was dodging Fugaku's punches, 'But he will eventually slip.'

"Stop running like a coward and fight!" Fugaku shouted, enraged at his failure to deliver a hit.

"Are you tired already, Uchiha-san?" Nanashi asked calmly with a little smile on his face, "I was led to believe that the Uchiha clan is powerful. It seems that you can't land a single hit even with your red eyes. They must be pretty useless if you can't copy any technique or predict an attack."

The Uchiha turned absolutely livid and started to attack even more furiously than before. For some reason none of his attacks were able to reach the red hair who was still smiling lightly which infuriated Fugaku even more. Until Nanashi tripped and exposed himself.

Fugaku immediately took his chance and shot a punch with great strength fully expecting it to crash into his opponent's face. However it didn't and Fugaku completely lost his balance.

Nanashi quickly sidestepped the hit and embedded his right knee straight into Fugaku's stomach, before finishing the battle with a left hook to the chin and a kick which left the Uchiha breathless on the ground.

"It seems that I won, Uchiha-san"

* * *

"YES!" Jiraiya shouted while jumping in joy with his hands up in the air, "Eat this Orochimaru! I knew he wouldn't disappoint me!" he collected the money from his pale teammate who had a grimace on his face.

"Princess, you must introduce me to him. Maybe during a dinner?" Jiraiya added suggestively.

"Moron! Don't try to use my cousin as a way to get a date from me!" she shouted in return before pinning him into the wall with a punch.

"Tsunade! Don't destroy my office with Jiraiya, I have recently repaired the whole in the wall you had made 2 weeks ago!" this time it was the hokage who addressed his female student.

"Sensei," everyone looked at Orochimaru who started to talk, "How was it possible for the Uzumaki to win? I have read academy reports and they stated that Fugaku Uchiha is propably the most skilled in hand to hand combat in the whole class. And yet he did not even land a hit. Although the Uzumaki was skilled, he should not be able to win. It was as if-"

"Fugaku-kun was in genjutsu from the very beginning," someone else said before leaving the shadows and materializing in the office. It was a black haired man, about hokage's age, dressed in dark blue pants and black sweatshirt with Uchiha's crest, 3 black tomoes present in his red eyes.

"Kagami-san," Tsunade acknowledged the man's presence, "we were watching this fight closely and Nanashi did not use any technique"

"He used it before the fight began, when you were not paying attention. That was the reason the Uzumaki-kun waited so long to fight back. Even 1 hit would break the genjutsu and he would lose."

"But Kagami-san, shouldn't Fugaku be able to recognize any genjutsu with his sharingan?" Orochimaru was curious.

"Sharingan is just a tool and as every tool it can be deceived. It is very effective against visual illusions, but genjutsu can be used on every other sense, just as you have seen before, when Uzumaki-kun caused chaos in the classroom," Kagami explained, "but, enough about the sharingan. Clan elders would want to punish me for "belittling the power of the Uchiha"," he ended with a smirk

"Kagami, why are you even here? And how did you get in?" Sarutobi asked.

"I wanted to surprise you with my glorious return from the mission so I went through the window. Guys there are accustomed so they let me in. Afterwards I have encountered very amusing sight – all of you watching something in the peeking ball. I have concluded that it must be something interesting so I did not interrupt. In order to remain undetected, I had to cast genjutsu, cause I was rolling on the floor with laughter when our next clan head was completely humiliated in the classroom by a very impressive red haired young man. A that point-"

"Ok, ok, that is enough," the hokage interrupted the river of words, "so, what do you think?"

"Fugaku-kun seems to be affected by our family's curse. He is proud and arrogant, easily taunted and he relies too much on the sharingan. However even I must agree that he is a talented ninja and I hope that this defeat will teach him something. On the other hand, the Uzumaki…lets just say that I like his style. He controlled the fight from the very beginning and used his strength very efficiently to win it. I suspect that the genjutsu had something to do with Fugaku's words from the classroom," he stopped for a moment before continuing.

"Overall, I think that this whole class shows much potential, there are a lot of clan kids and even some from civilian families show talent," he finished.

"I see, thank you for your insight. Now, what was that about your mission?"

* * *

"You were so awesome there, Nashi!" Kushina exclaimed loudly while patting Nanashi strongly on his back, "you totally destroyed this bastard!. Did you see it, Mikoto? I had told you that he would win!" she turned to her black haired friend.

"Yes, you were quite vocal about it," Mikoto responded, "By the way, Nanashi-san, I am Uchiha Mikoto. It is nice to meet you, Kushina has told me a lot about you," she added with a smile.

"Likewise, Mikoto-san. Kushina has written a lot about you in her letters. Something about her "cool friend from the stuck up clan", I believe." He added with a smirk.

"Hey! Don't talk as if I'm not there!" Kushina shouted, "now that you are in Konoha, you must come with me to the Ichiraku's. They have the best ramen there, it is the best place in the whole village."

"I'm sure that is the best for you. Uncle used to spend more money on these noodles that on all other things combined. You probably have a separate budget just for this stuff or you would spend all you money on it."

"I wouldn't! And don't you dare defy the greatness of ramen, it is a food of the gods!"

"Maybe some moronic gods! Like Flying Ramen Monster!"

"There is such god!?" Kushina yelled in awe.

"Of course there isn't, you idiot! I just made it up."

At this point he had to dodge a few punches, as Kushina started to chase him around, trying to hit him. He created a clone which was quickly dispersed, when Kushina's fist went straight through it and crashed into a building.

Nanashi did not waste any time and quickly used shunshin to run away, not before saying his goodbyes to Mikoto.

* * *

After a few minutes of running away he came upon a training ground which was being used by a familiar looking blonde.

"Hey," he greeted the boy, who was in the middle of throwing kunai at a few targets at once, "Minato-san, right?"

Minato stopped what he was doing as he realized that he was no longer alone.

"Ahh, just call me Minato, Nanashi-san," he answered recognizing the person that greeted him.

"Sure, do the same for me," Nanashi rubbed his head and thought, 'Kushina keeps saying that I'm far too polite. She may actually be right. It's a bit weird to add honorfics to people my age.'

"May I ask, what you are doing here?"

"I'm-" Nanashi stopped for a moment before giving his sweatshirt to a recently created shadow clone and hiding behind a bush. Not too soon, as Kushina appeared from behind the treeside and immediately started to chase after the clone.

"I see," Minato said knowingly, "It is still much easier to avoid 1 Kushina than a horde of fangirls."

"You would be surprised. I have been running from her for an hour and I'm almost out of chakra. It is good that I had found the tracking seal on my sweatshirt, or I would never get her off me. I'm pretty sure that your fans are not that creative. If what I had seen in the academy was any indicator, you shouldn't have any problems to avoid them. You could easily run away or just put them in genjutsu"

"It's not that simple," The blonde got flustered, "I just…panic when I see them coming at me. And can't you do the same with Kushina?"

"I can't. I was using this tactics on her for a long time and she became very good in dispelling illusions," Nanashi gritted his teeth, 'I have dug this hole myself.'

"Why was she even chasing you?"

"I laughed at her ramen addiction. It's probably not very safe for me to return to the compound for now," he sighed and thought for a moment, "Can I train with you?"

"Sure"

* * *

It was dark outside when Nanashi finally returned to the Uzumaki compound. Training with Minato was fun. He found Kushina's description of blonde "showing off sissy" not very accurate, as he quite enjoyed Minato's company.

'Hmm, what do we have here?' he wondered as he checked what food was there, at the compound, 'ramen, ramen, ramen and…ramen,' he sweat dropped. This was surely a prank, but there was no choice. The shops were closed so this would have to do.

'This is actually quite tasty,' he thought, before seeing some paper at the end of the bowl. He took it out and read it.

"_I knew that you would finally give in to the wonders of ramen, dattebane. But you had committed a crime of laughing at the food of the gods! As your punishment I put laxatives into the bowl that you are eating now."_

'Kushina, I will kill you!'


	3. Before the first step

"No, Danzo!" the clearly annoyed third hokage spoke loudly to a man with x-shaped scar on a chin sitting in the middle between another man and a woman, "I won't send children to die meaningless deaths!"

"We need soldiers, Hiruzen," Danzo spoke calmly, "We can't fight against other villages the way we are. Their sacrifice won't be meaningless. It will be for the good of the village."

"If we do this, we won't have any village after the war. Without these children, the village won't have any future!"

"You can't overlook the fact that we are in war, we need more manpower."

"No, Danzo, I can't," Hiruzen sighed, "That's why those selected by me will immediately graduate and become genins. They will be killing bandits on our land and carrying messages. But I won't send them to the frontlines. They would be a cannon fodder."

"I see," Danzo accepted such answer and changed the subject, "What are the orders?"

"Continue creating hostility between the Cloud and the Rock. As you have said, we can't fight everyone just by ourselves. Kagami has succeeded in doing so in the Mist and attacks on our shore have already weakened. The Mist still controls the sea, though."

"What about the situation in the Sand? We must prevent them from attacking us at all cost" asked Homura, another one of the advisors.

"Sakumo managed to assassinate the wind daimyo and made it look like Iwa's doing." Danzo showed something in the map with his finger.

"This oasis is one of the few water sources near Sand. We should poison it." Hiruzen looked thoughtful.

"Do it, Danzo. But no one must know about our involvement in this. It will be job for the Root." Danzo nodded his head, looking pleased with the task.

"Show us those genin teams that you have in mind, Hiruzen," Koharu said something for the first time during this meeting, "If they must be strong enough than most of them will be from clans. And we can't offend the clans by giving their children poor teachers."

"Indeed," the hokage agreed and retrieved a paper with names from his desk.

* * *

"Kushina, this must end," Nanashi said as he walked beside Kushina to the academy. Just this morning he discovered that his hair somehow became blonde and he didn't like it at all. The girl looked very proud of herself and was pirouetting and jumping over puddles.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she answered without paying attention to him, "Now you look more like Sissy. You spend so much time with him, that one could think you're brothers."

"I'm talking about these pranks, Kushi." It has been a month since his first day in the academy and his cousin has been trying her best to get him. At first it was fun, but now it has become tiresome, "I can't even sleep without setting a barrier in my room." The only good point was, that he learned how to use a barrier. The necessity was really a mother of inventions.

"You deserve it!" she cried loudly, "I couldn't get rid of this stupid illusion on my shirt for a week!" Nanashi snorted.

"Didn't you like, the Flying Ramen Monster?" After her ramen prank he made sure to use this particular visage on her favorite shirt and empowered it with a seal. The best thing was that she couldn't forcefully break it, or she would risk destroying the shirt. It took her a week to finally come up with a seal which siphoned chakra and broke the illusion.

"Even the old man laughed at me!" she gritted her teeth and stared at his once more red hair, "Hey! You can't do it!"

"I can't do what?" he smiled innocently.

"You know what!"

"I know what?" he began looking around the sky.

"Stop doing that!" she made a few handsigns and a water from nearby puddles rose and splashed him in the face. He stared at her angrily, but the transformation technique he had performed to cover his hair color withstood.

"I'll make you a deal. I won't cover my hair and you'll stop pranking me."

"Ok, deal," the girl said after a few seconds of thinking, "And you'll train with me instead of doing it with the Sissy."

"Could it be…that you were jealous?" the boy connected the facts.

"I wasn't jealous!" she shouted with anger or embarrassment.

"Kushina, do you have to be so loud so early in the morning?" asked Mikoto, who just came out from around the corner, "I like your new hair, Nanashi", she added as she looked at his head.

"What do you mean you like it, Mikoto!?" Kushina wasn't happy with this, "It's the same color as Minato's! Do you mean, you like him too!?" Mikoto and Nanashi rolled their eyes.

"Your obsession with Minato is really weird, Kushi. Are you sure you don't like him yourself?" Nanashi's teasing question left Kushina speechless for a moment.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure she does," Mikoto nodded her head and agreed, before going forward with Nanashi.

"By the way, Mikoto, don't you usually go to the academy with Fugaku?" the boy asked.

"He said that sleeping so long is unbecoming of the Uchiha and he left earlier."

"Soon, he will say that about eating."

"Hey! You two, wait for me!" Kushina shouted and chased them.

* * *

When they arrived at the academy 10 minutes later, it appeared that the building was closed and people were all waiting outside. Immediately they heard many whispers.

"Why is it closed?"

"Do you think that the teacher was assassinated?"

"Maybe it's an attack from another village."

Nanashi saw Minato and went to greet him.

"And maybe every teacher just overslept, don't you think so?" he said after shaking hands.

"It must be something very important for all of them to be late," Minato responded after a moment, "Blonde suits you."

"Thanks," Nanashi smirked, but suddenly started to look around for Kushina as he spotted one of the more vocal fangirls. After his win against Fugaku he became "hot" in their eyes. He quickly found out that the best way to avoid them was to be near Kushina or Mikoto, but the luck had it that they weren't around.

He used genjutsu on said girl and watched with amusement as she approached Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi.

"You look so good today, Minato-kun," Mebuki Haruno, who Kushina dubbed as Pink Banshee, said and embraced Inoichi from behind.

"Eeee… Mebuki-chan?" Inoichi was too stunned to even think of something else, so he just turned around to face her.

"Ahh, you didn't need to," she continued with red face. Choza who stood just beside Inoichi even stopped eating crisps. Nanashi had a hard time stopping himself from laughing.

"You shouldn't do this," Minato berated him.

"Would you prefer it to be you?" he smiled at his friend and started to make handsigns, "I can arrange it." Minato immediately stopped him.

"Don't you dare." Nanashi laughed quietly and made a final sign.

"Ahh, you are so sweet!" Mebuki shot herself even more forward and kissed Inoichi on the lips.

Suddenly a huge cloud of smoke appeared and revealed a white haired man standing on the back of the big orange toad.

"Fear not, for I have come!" he made a ridiculous pose, "I, whose name women call with love and men with jealousy. I, the gallant Jiraiya!" The students looked at him completely stunned.

"Who is this guy?" Minato asked Nanashi quietly, but before he could answer Jiraiya saw Mebuki and Inoichi.

"I see that just my presence had an amazing effect here. Keep it up, boy and I am sure you'll follow in my footsteps," Jiraiya exclaimed, but took a closer look at Mebuki and immediately gazed at Nanashi who froze, "You! Vile creature, cancel your demonic influence on this fair lady."

'He had to spoil the fun,' Nanashi thought, but released the illusion.

"Inoichi! What are you doing to me!?" the banshee screamed as if she hadn't been the one embracing the blonde, hit him in the face and ran.

"Ahh, women. Beautiful creatures, we, men are not able to understand," white haired man said nodding knowingly, looking at the scene.

"Why are you here, Jiraiya?" the hokage appeared using shunshin, "You were showing off, weren't you?" he looked around to see students nodding."

"I was rescuing maidens and fighting the evil," Jiraiya answered with straight face. His teacher stared at him with disbelief but after a moment he gave in and thought that maybe he is better off not knowing.

"Whatever, now get out of here. I'll meet you in my office."

Hokage made a small earthwall beneath his feet and started to speak to the crowd.

"As you know, we are in war. We are surrounded by our enemies from other villages. You may also wonder why the academy is closed today. I have come here to give you an answer to this question. Today is the day some of you will become genins of the Village Hidden in the Leafs and tomorrow you will be placed into teams," Sarutobi took out a sheet of paper and started to read names, "Aburame Shinichi, Hyuuga Akara, Uchiha Hizagi, (…)."

'It seems the list goes from lower class up,' Nanashi realized. He had met Uchiha Hizagi once, when he had visited Mikoto.

"(…) Aburame Shibi," the hokage started to read names from graduating class, "Akimichi Choza, Hyuuga Hanaka, Hyuuga Hiashi, Hyuuga Hizashi, Inuzuka Tsume, Namikaze Minato, Nara Shikaku, Sarutobi Toshiro, Senju Suzaku, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto, Uzumaki Kushina, Uzumaki Nanashi and Yamanaka Inoichi. You will come to the academy tomorrow at 8 a.m. to meet your new teammates and your teacher. I wish you all luck in your life as a shinobi and remember that the will of fire will illuminate the village."

* * *

"So, tomorrow we will become shinobi," Minato said and threw a kunai at a tree.

"Is it so hard to believe? You have been training your last years just to get to this point," Nanashi lied on the grass.

"Yes, but now that it is real, I have doubts. We will be going to war. I can't help but feel scared."

"Only fools wouldn't be scared," the Uzumaki closed his eyes, remembering his own experiences, "The attack on my village was the scariest thing in my life. We all thought that our seals could stop even the whole world. They took us by surprise. I'm alive only thanks to the sacrifice of my family."

"Do you think that some of them may have survived?"

"Only those who were either outside the island or taken hostage. And there were not many outside. The day of the attack was an anniversary of the founding of Uzushio. Even those who hadn't lived with us came to celebrate, along with envoys from the Senju clan."

"Who was this white haired guy? He seemed to know you," Minato changed the subject

"Hahaha," Nanashi laughed, "It was Jiraiya, my cousin Tsunade's teammate. He is a self-acknowledged super pervert. He has been hating me since I've tricked him into peeping on men. Honestly, he should be grateful. If Tsunade had caught him she would have definitely killed him."

"Is he really a ninja?" Minato was a bit taken aback by the description.

"He is even supposedly very strong. Who knows, maybe he will be your sensei."

"Very funny," Minato didn't seem pleased with the possibility, "Who do you think will be in your team?"

"As long as I'm not with Fugaku, Suzaku or Hiashi I'm alright with anyone." Fugaku hated him, Hiashi was impossible to get on, always preaching on Hyuuga's superiority and he simply didn't like Suzaku.

"Why not Suzaku? He's your cousin, isn't he?"

"He attacked me when I first came to the Senju compound. He said that I'm not allowed to be there and he hasn't apologized yet. Hashirama and Tobirama were my grandmother' brothers and Hashirama's wife was my grandfather's sister. I have probably more right to be in the Senju compound them him and he dares to try to throw me out."

"You, from clans are rather similar to each other," the blonde smiled a bit.

"I don't know whether to be offended to be compared to the likes of Fugaku or not, but I guess it's true. I'm proud of my ancestry. Speaking of which, did you try to test your blood?" Minato was an orphan and didn't know anything about his parents.

"Yeah, but there were no results. It seems that they weren't ninjas from Konoha. All I discovered is that I had been brought to the orphanage from a village near the borders with Kumo. Ninjas who brought me are all dead now."

"So if we know nothing about your parents, we can assume that they powerful people, maybe raikage himself is your father."

"Heh, thanks, but I must ask. Why do you think that my parents were ninjas?" Minato started to look into his parentage a week ago, after his friend had urged him to do so.

"Because of your chakra. You remember when I told you that I'm a sensor?" Minato nodded his head, "I have never met anyone with chakra affinity like yours. That makes me think that you have a bloodline limit. And they are hereditary."

"A bloodline limit?" the blonde was stunned, "But…that would mean that I'm from a clan, that I have a family."

"Well, that would mean that one of your ancestors was from one. I don't know which one it is, but it affects your affinity. You will have to discover it yourself," he looked at the sun, "I have to go. I promised Kushina to train with her."

"Sure, see you tomorrow."

* * *

'How the hell is she so strong?' He thought as he tried to parry a sword strike. Kushina had always been stronger than him, but in her absence, the difference had become even wider. Simple parrying became risky, he had to redirect her strikes, but sometimes it was impossible to do it or dodge. 'Luckily, her technique hasn't improved as much.'

"You have become rusty, Octopus. Have you even trained?" Riling her up was usually successful tactic to make her slip.

"Shut up, I didn't have anyone to train with. People here can only throw kunais and shurikens. And stop calling me Octopus!" She swung violently from the left forcing him to jump back. She tried to overwhelm him with a flurry of strikes, but was unsuccessful and got hit in a shoulder instead.

"Yeah, I can see that. Maybe you would prefer if I were unarmed," he mocked, "The banshee has better chances at being hokage than you." He quickly regretted saying this, as she leapt at him faster than he thought possible.

'Wha-, Kyuubi's chakra!,' he realized. Even before he had had problems avoiding her attacks, but now it has become ridiculous. A pair of chains appeared out of her back and she was suddenly much faster and stronger than before. And her eyes were red.

"Kushina, stop!" he shouted, but to no avail, 'she went completely berserk!' He tried to use genjutsu, but she didn't even notice it and almost broke his ribs with the training sword. He almost cried in pain, but had to avoid getting pinned down by a chain, 'Good thing, that she has always been terrible with them'

'Kyuubi's chakra is flooding her, I need something stronger!' He furthered the distance between them with a shunshin and after biting his thumb he performed his newest technique.

'Summoning!' A black panther appeared out of the smoke.

"**What do you wan-"** it had to jump away from the incoming chain.

"Buy me some time!" Nanashi shouted while going through many handseals, "And watch out for the chain. It can seal your chakra away!" The cat didn't complain for once and started to circle around Kushina. 3 clones appeared, disorienting her. She attacked wildly, but the panther she hit dispersed into lightning.

"Aaargh!" she screamed in pain, when the electricity coursed through her. Yoru didn't wait for her to recover and assaulted her with the rest of his clones, dodging flying chains. Before they could reach her, 2 more chains appeared. They destroyed the clones and entangled the cat.

'fuinjutsu: 5 pronged seal!' Nanashi appeared before her with chakra visible on his every finger and slammed his hand into her stomach. The girl immediately relaxed. Her eyes returned to purple and she collapsed, unconscious.

"You okay, Yoru?" The boy asked heavy breathing creature.

"**You could have been faster. I thought she was going to strangle me," **he answered and laid down on the ground, **"Isn't she this cousin that you spoke of? Why was she even attacking you?"**

"She is a jinchuuriki. I have stupidly provoked her and she went berserk," he leaned on a tree.

"**What is a jinchuuriki?"** the cat didn't know.

"A human who has one of the tailed beasts sealed inside him."

"**So, we just fought with a bijuu, didn't we?"**

"Not really, but you can still brag that you have fought with a host of the strongest bijuu, the Kyuubi itself. Though, she didn't even use 1 tail. I can't even imagine how powerful she would become if she used all nine of them."

"**What did you do to contain her?"**

"It is a 5 pronged seal. It disrupts her chakra flow."

"**You know awfully lot for a kid,"** the cat mused.

"Heh, there wasn't many things to do in our village."

"**So you studied for fun?"**

"You sound as if it was wrong"

"**Certainly not common. Father sometimes lectures me about this boring stuff. Circle of life and so on. It is better when we go hunting or exploring. Well, I will be going. Next time have something to eat, this roasted meat is humanity's greatest achievement,"** saying that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

"So, the Uzumaki boy managed to stop rampaging jinchuuriki," Danzo repeated his agents report.

"Yes, Lord Danzo. The jinchuuriki didn't use much of Kyuubi's chakra, but it was very impressive nonetheless. The boy also summoned a panther to aid him," an operative with white mask said.

"Did he?" Danzo contemplated something, "Annihilation of the Uzumaki clan may have been advantageous to us after all. Another summoning contract and a boy well versed in fuinjutsu."

"What shall we do, Lord Danzo?"

"Nothing for now, the war is more important matter. Both the boy and the jinchuuriki are becoming genins tomorrow. We can't waste resources on babysitting. But in time we shall see, whether his destiny lies within the roots of the great tree." The agent nodded and took off his hood, revealing a mop of scarlet hair.

* * *

"Slept well?" Nanashi casually asked an hour later, when Kushina finally emerged from her room. He has already eaten supper and started to read Uzumaki Mito's diary which she had written before her death.

"What happened?" she asked with a morbid face. She didn't even notice that he had managed to remove paint from his hair.

"Nothing much," he didn't stop reading.

"Don't lie to me, Nashi," she said quietly but firmly, "I barely remember anything, but I know that I have fought with you and your furball."

"Yoru would resent that statement," he stated and put down the book under her gaze, "What do you want me to say, Kushi? You went completely berserk there."

"I used Kyuubi's chakra there, didn't I?" she asked, but looked as if she had already known the answer.

"Yes, you did. You were much stronger and faster than normal. But your attacks lacked finesse. Not that they were much different than normally."

"Hey!" her mood suddenly changed from depression to anger, "I have more finesse in 1 finger than you do in your whole body"

"Hm, hm, keep telling yourself that. I defeated you even when you used fox's power. That means that I am superior. You can call me Lord Nanashi from now on."

"After my dead body! I'm the heir of the clan. I am Lady Kushina to you!"

"Ok, Lady Kushina," he bowed with a smile, "But as long, as you can't defeat me, you will only be an Octopus." She stared at him once again.

"I'll kill you one die, you know it, ttebane?"

"That's what makes it more interesting. Speaking about octopuses, I've noticed that you went berserk as soon as your tentacles appeared. Why?"

"The seal is powered by the chains. When I tried to use them, Kyuubi's chakra probably started to leak."

"That only means that you must learn how to control it or how to use your chains without weakening the seal."

"Easy for you to say," she deflated once again.

"Easy, but grandma Mito wrote in this diary that it can be done," he pointed at the book he had been reading, "She also wrote here that the Kyuubi isn't some mindless monster, but intelligent creature. Did you try to speak with it?"

"I did, but…," she trembled visibly, "he is scary. He only laughed, threatened and insulted me."

"Hey," he stood up, "You are going to become the first female hokage. Controlling the bijuu should be the least of your achievements," he yawned deeply, "I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow we are officially becoming ninjas."


End file.
